Alle Benchmarks Cooler Charts 2013 max OC @max rpm

All measurements for our overclocked cooling performance charts are based on an AMD FX-8350 processor, which we run at 4.4 GHz. Processor core voltage is increased by 0.075 V and the load line calibration BIOS setting goes from regular to medium mode, which puts the processor into an approximate TDP range of 180 W. This allows checking the cooling capabilities of modern cooling devices for highly overclocked systems. As a result, it also helps to reveal if any cooler vendor might be promising a bit too much of a cooling performance.
Our test system runs inside a Cooler Master Storm Stryker case with a pair of 120-mm fans mounted in the front panel, a 140 mm fan in the rear part and a 200-mm top fan. The two smaller diameter fans run at 1000 RPM while the large fan on top of the system spins at 900 RPM, which equals the default fan speed for this particular fan. We use Arctic’s MX-4 thermal compound for all coolers to remain consistent.

The system runs at maximum CPU load running Prime95 for a period of 70 minutes. We track all parameters using Aida64. The last ten minutes of the test run are actually used for collecting test results: We calculate the arithmetic mean of the CPU core temperature over the duration of these ten minutes and present the results showing temperature Delta K as well as based on a theoretical room temperature of 20°C. If, based on this room temperature, the core temperature exceeds 70°C, the product failed the test and we abort the process, as the cooling solution cannot handle the thermal load.
We keep track on the environment temperature during the test run with a Voltcraft PL-120-T2 thermometer. We also measure noise levels with the side panel opened, at a distance of 30 cm from the top of the CPU cooler. This results in noise levels that are higher than what you’ll experience in everyday operation, but it ensures that we actually track cooler noise and not some acoustic interference. The acuostic measurements are performed with a Voltcraft VL-100, positioned in a right angle towards the cooler and motherboard.